Fourth of July
by MichaelaTheUchiha
Summary: It was Fourth of July and they were celebrating using fireworks. But then Steve flashbacked back to the war, but it got better. Team bonding with Steve! No slash! Pepperony! ThorxJane! After the movie. One Shot! Whole team with cameos from Pepper, Jane, and Rhodey.


**Title: **Fourth of July

**Author: **MichaelaTheUchiha

**Rating: **T for Paranoia

**Fandom: **Avengers

**Warnings: **Cursing. Remembered!Violence. Alcohol.

**Spoilers: **For Captain America.

**Summary: **It was Fourth of July and they were celebrating using fireworks. But then Steve flashbacked back to the war, but it got better. Team bonding with Steve! No slash! Pepperony! ThorxJane! After the movie.

**A/N: **For Fourth of July. Even though I'm Canadian. I HAVE NO IDEA ABOUT THE SYMPTOMS OF PTSD, SO DON'T SHOOT ME IN THE FACE IF I GET ANYTHING WRONG. OOCness, maybe? I CANNOT SPEAK LIKE THOR. I'M SORRY, OKAY? Also, unbeta'd as always. Sorry for any mistakes, they are all mine.

_Fourth of July_

It was starting to get dark, that Thursday evening. They had all been living in the Stark Tower for a year now. Bruce had moved into the tower immediately and Steve followed a few months after. Natasha and Clint started to stay there a few weeks after Steve and Thor only stayed there when he wasn't with Jane. Still, the Avengers had become a close knit family. Sure, Tony was still a git and got into arguments with everyone, but everyone on the team (even if grudgingly) respected each other.

Steve was looking up at the darkening sky on the roof, waiting for the surprise Tony said he had for everyone. Since it was Independence Day, the surprise was most likely going to be fireworks. But, then again, who knew when it came to Tony aside from Pepper?

And Steve wasn't the only one on the roof. Everyone was there: Tony, Pepper, Rhodey, Thor, Jane, Natasha, Clint, and Bruce. Pepper was on Tony's lap, sitting on a lawn chair. Jane and Thor were currently chatting near the other couple. Natasha and Clint were sitting on the ledge, talking quietly. Bruce was just leaning against the wall and watching the sky, like Steve. Rhodey was casually drinking a beer next to Pepper and Tony, completely ignoring their love fest. Director Fury said that he was unable to make it to the surprise, although Steve wouldn't be surprised if Director Fury just didn't trust Tony enough to actually come to the tower when he had an invitation. Tony had certainly sulked about it when he heard that Director Fury wasn't coming. He probably had a prank or something.

Suddenly, Tony whispered something in Pepper's ear and Pepper got off of Tony. Tony stood up and raised his arms.

"I think you might have to get away from the ledge, Natashalie and Legolas," stated Tony easily. Despite everything that the Avengers have been through the past year, Tony still didn't quit with the annoying nicknames. "Also, Golly Green, try not to turn into the Hulk if you're surprised, okay?"

This was an easy jab to Bruce's…condition, Steve knew, but that didn't stop him frowning disapprovingly at Tony's direction. Bruce only chuckled well naturedly, however.

"Alright, friends, teammates, my lovely Pepper," started Tony, "today is the day where America kicked the British out of our damn homes. Go America! As you know, we spend every Independence Day with fireworks. Well, these fireworks that are about to come aren't just your regular fireworks. They are Stark Industries Fireworks. Let 'em rip, JARVIS!"

There was a sizzling, an explosion, and white changed to red, which changed to blue. Steve would have recognised that the first round of fireworks were for him if it wasn't for the fact that he was transported back in time. All he could feel from the light was the heat of fire as it nearly singed him. The worry he had that he wasn't going to be able to make this jump, the absolute heat he felt when the fire consumed him, the frustration that he wouldn't be able to see Peggy again or let Bucky escape from Red Skull's prison…

"Capsicle? Cap? Are you okay? Steve?"

At the sound of his real name, Steve snapped back to reality to see Tony standing in front of him looking worried, for once. He would have been amusedly shocked if it wasn't for the fact that his hands were shaking and he probably looked pale as a ghost.

"I-I'm sorry," he could hear himself mumbling like out of a badly tuned radio, "I need some space."

And Steve was running back into the tower, ignoring all of the commotion that it had caused to the party. All he could do was bolt lower and lower into the tower, trying to escape the booming noises outside that came from the fireworks. Each boom remind him of a bullet that barely missed him and his team, a bullet that downed one of his teammates, the sounds of bullets that were the last thing he heard from Bucky…

Steve managed to stumble into a bathroom and threw up in a toilet. He felt feverish. His hands were shaking even worse now and, when he looked at the mirror, he looked whiter than he usually did. It was as if all colours had left from his skin. He started to rinse his mouth out with water when he could hear footsteps behind him.

"Captain Rogers," said a low voice. Natasha. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," muttered Steve. He looked at his reflection again and his eyes looked haunted. "Just…flashbacks."

"If it makes you feel any better, Steve, I cannot handle any kind of flames," said Natasha evenly.

Steve turned around to look at Natasha in shock.

"There was a fire at a hospital…" Natasha trailed off and shrugged. "Every time I see a flame, I get transported back to that time. We all have triggers, Captain. It is just about how you control them."

Steve smiled faintly at Natasha. "Thanks, Natasha."

"Stark has stopped the fireworks, if you would like to come up and join the party," stated Natasha. "And, no, that isn't a request."

"Alright," Steve stated, following Natasha back upstairs. "Do…do you think anyone is going to judge me?"

Natasha shrugged. "Clint certainly has his own triggers, as does Stark." Tony? Why would he have triggers? "Thor is a warrior, so he may be more understanding. Bruce will understand as well. You may get pity from the other women, however."

Steve nodded, although he was still confused as to why Tony would have triggers.

They reached where the party was, although it was obviously wasn't much of a party anymore. The tension in the air was thick amongst the group, but it seemed to lighten when Natasha came back with Steve.

Tony patted Steve on his shoulder, a glass of alcohol in his other hand. Probably scotch. "Hey, Capsicle, you feeling any better?"

"I'm fine," he said lowly to Tony, before looking at everyone. "I'm fine, guys. I guess the food was making me feel kind of sick."

Tony looked mock-heartbroken. "What? The food? But I ordered it especially for everyone!"

"Maybe that's why he got sick," Pepper teased. "You aren't really the best at choosing foods."

"Burgers and alcohol, what more could you need?" retorted Tony.

"Real sustenance," Pepper stated dryly.

With the light banter between Tony and Pepper, the party seemed to regain its spark. Steve was just hanging away from the party when Clint appeared next to him.

"We all know it wasn't because of the food," said Clint lowly. "You aren't the only one to have…problems. I can't deal with complete darkness; it reminds me too much of when Loki took control over me. Not only that, but a lot of bad things happened in the dark." The unspoken _'to me'_ was left hanging in the air for a few seconds. "So, yeah, I sleep with a night light. Tell anyone and I'll kill you."

Steve nodded. "Thanks, Clint. And, I won't."

Clint clapped a hand on Steve's shoulder. "Anytime." He then went back and joined the party.

Steve was just starting to relax again when Bruce came to talk to him next. He looked as nervous as he did when he first joined the group.

"Uh, I may not know exactly what you're going through," said Bruce, "but I can understand having triggers that could make you lose control of yourself. So…know that you're not alone, Steve. We're all here for you to talk with. Even Tony."

Steve smiled at Bruce, although he doubted the last sentence. Despite the fact that the relationship between Tony and Steve was slowly improving over time, there were still some hostility between the both of them. Steve doubted that Tony would even talk to him, unlike the rest of the team. Well, Thor hadn't yet, but still. "Thanks, Bruce."

"No problem, Captain." Bruce went over to talk to Tony.

Steve supposed that it was Thor's turn to talk to him and, a few minutes later, Thor went up to him.

Thor gave him a surprisingly gentle clap on Steve's back. "There are many of Asgard who come back from battle with more than just physical scars. They have been able to overcome their emotional scars and I believe that you, Steve Rogers, will be able to do the same. You are much stronger than most of us from Asgard."

Steve actually felt touched, as Thor generally believed that no humans were as great as Asgardian warriors. "Thanks, Thor."

"The gratitude is all mine," said Thor jovially before returning to Jane's side.

Steve allowed a small smile to grace his face. It felt nice to be cared about, especially from the members of the team. It was hard, living in the city and trying to remember how it used to be before. The fact that there was no Peggy, Bucky, or Howard made Steve's heart ache every time he even walked across the streets. Everyone that he knew from his past was dead and he was never going to have that dance with Peggy, or have Howard trying to get him drunk. Bucky was dead even before he had gone under the ice. Now that he thought about it, they both died, although Steve's icy tomb was more of a very long slumber, surrounded in ice. Steve just hoped that when he died, he could share again that similarity with his best friend. They had been so different…

"Are you okay, Cap?"

Steve blinked out of his thoughts to see Tony next to him. His first thought was: _hey, Tony was going to actually give him a pep talk_. His second thought was: _how the hell is Tony going to relate to anything that was going on with him?_

"I'm fine, Tony," answered Steve. "Just…thinking."

Tony shuffled nervously, looking too much like Bruce had earlier. Uncomfortable with a touch of worry and understanding. "I can't handle still water."

Steve blinked in surprised. He's seen Tony go underwater before in his Iron Man suit without any problems. "What-?"

"Let me finish," Tony interrupted. "I'm not sure how much you've read about me, but I was captured in Afghanistan for three months. These terrorists captured me and tortured me in order for me to make them a missile. I resisted and they did some form of water boarding on me. I can go into water if I have time for preparation, but if it's sudden, then I get flashbacks to the cave in Afghanistan."

Steve looked at Tony with horror. No, he had certainly not read anything about Tony's time in Afghanistan in his SHIELD's file. There was a brief mention of Afghanistan, but there weren't any details. He had thought it was bad, but he didn't expect that Tony was tortured. He was just a civilian! It wasn't even when he was Iron Man!

Tony looked irritated. "Oh, stop looking at me like your cat has just died. I just wanted to let you know that you're not alone. We all can understand, even just a tiny bit, of what you're going through. We can all deal with this together."

Steve nodded mutely. He would have expected compassion from the other members of the team, but not Tony. Despite living with the man for a year, Tony had only showed any ounce of emotion to Pepper, Rhodey, JARVIS, and, probably, Bruce. To the rest of them, all they got was the full-Tony-arsehole-package. So, the fact that Tony was here, in front of him, offering compassion, was a big shock to Steve.

Steve smiled brightly at Tony. "Thanks."

Tony smirked. "Now, why don't we join the party? I'm sure everyone is missing us."

Steve laughed. "Sure."

Tony walked easily back to the party, talking to Pepper again. Steve took in one last breath and joined the conversation.

**A/N: **My favourite character by far is Tony, although I like all of the characters. Maybe Natashalie and Bruce more than the others. However, I found that the Captain America movie was better than all of the movies aside from Iron Man and the Avengers, but I'm not counting the Avengers with the others. Well, I haven't watched Thor yet, but still. I can still hear fireworks outside my apartment window. Anyways, sorry for any of the OOCness and stuff. This is my first Avengers fic, so I hope its okay. Oh, and if this is posted after July Fourth, well, my mum turned off my internet, so I'm currently stealing my neighbour's. Obviously, it's a bit slow. I just hope it works.

Thanks for reading, guys!


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